Dispatch voice communications are becoming increasingly popular and additional service providers, utilizing a variety of different technologies, are now providing the capability for these types of calls to their subscribers. As is well known, dispatch communications are half-duplex communications where only one person at a time is able to speak. They are also known as “walkie-talkie”, or push-to-talk, types of calls.
Whereas previously PTT calls were limited to only being provided by a single service provider, and thus by utilizing a single network technology, currently these types of calls are provided by additional service providers. Further, these types of calls are now being provided over various different network technologies by the different service providers, e.g., Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), etc. Whereas there is interoperability for conducting PTT calls between the different service provider networks, and thus between the different technologies of the service provider networks, this interoperability generally requires complex technical solutions.
Therefore, there is a need to provide an improved apparatus and method for interoperating between different technologies for PTT calls.